Brexit not the top issue in election

HOT POTATO: PARTIES CLASH OVER UK’S FREE HEALTHCARE

Britain’s snap election next week was called to resolve the impasse over Brexit, but much of the campaign has instead been dominated by explosive rows over healthcare.

The state-run National Health Service (NHS) provides free treatment for all. It is often criticised but fiercely defended.

For many, the debate over how to address its shortcomings is more important than less tangible issues such as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.

Mark Dayan, a policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust health think-tank, said: “There’s a national feeling of protectiveness towards the NHS – and that has become anxiety as performance has slipped.”

Johnson’s centre-right Conservatives and the left-wing Labour main opposition are promising big NHS spending boosts if they win next Thursday.

Labour’s main election thrust has been to allege that the Conservatives are secretly plotting to sell off the NHS to Donald Trump and US pharmaceutical firms.

The Conservatives have dismissed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s claim of a “toxic” post-Brexit deal with the US president as “conspiracy theory-fuelled nonsense”.

The governing party says the health service, the price it pays for drugs and the services it provides are “not on the table” in any future trade talks.

Trump also denies being interested: “If you handed it to us on a silver platter, we want nothing to do with it,” he said.

His denials have failed to convince protesters, who marched through central London waving placards reading: “Trump, hands off our NHS”. – AFP